Sealing the Foundation

As you know, we're working on a big foundation project.   Here's a recap, if you're interested. 

The next step in our foundation project is to give it some moisture protection.    There are a lot of options out there for that and Eric finally decided that we'd do two things.

1. Install a moisture barrier.   There are a number of options for this, and in the end we went with a layer of Platon.

2. Improve the overall drainage next to the foundation and direct it away from the house.   We laid drainage tile when we finished the footer.   We had talked about laying another layer of tile next to the foundation, but the Department of Redundancy Department decided that was unnecessary.   So, we decided to put in loads more gravel next to the foundation. 

Platon is the same kind of stuff you can use between a concrete slab and subfloor. It has bumps that keep a layer of air between the plastic and the concrete.

Eric attached the Platon to the foundation with ceramic coated washer head screws.

Then we hauled gravel.  And hauled more gravel.   And hauled more gravel.   In a day, the four of us were able to finish and fill one whole moat on the west side of the house. 

Tibby is a little sad that she can't hide in the moat anymore.  It kept her away from the horseflies and out of the wind.  She's moved back into her dog house.

The Foundation Pour

Previously on Rurification....

Last fall we dug out the foundation and poured new footers.   This spring we put in drainage.  We spent the summer putting forms up for the new foundation. 

These are the foundation forms on the east side of our house, ready to take the concrete.

Once again, Eric made a couple of mega sawhorses to support the giant chutes.  We actually rented a chute extension this time because the foundation forms are a lot smaller space to hit.  

The concrete truck showed up at 11am.

We started in the southeast corner.   Our tools of choice were a regular garden hoe, long 2x2s, and a bunch of garden shovels of varying sizes.  

This pour did not go as smoothly as the last one. The 80 degree plus heat worked against us and even though we were using thinner concrete [5 inch slump], we had to work more slowly and it seized up fast and caused some problems.  Our site is a tricky one and the truck couldn't get where it would be easy to pour.


On top of that, these forms were 4 feet or so higher than the footer, so we had much less slope to work with.   Gravity is your friend.   On this pour day, gravity was on vacation and did not come over to help.  

In the end it took much longer and we used a much thinner mix than we had planned.  We had to push it by hand and shovel to where we needed it on the west side.   It was tricky, strenuous and messy work and it took all of us to get it done.  We never panicked and stayed cheerful through the whole job.

We had ordered 8.5 yards of concrete and we used it all.  By 4:30 all the concrete was in and we were cleaning up. 

Clean up took a long time.   We had to spray everything down right away or consign it to yard sculpture status forever.

Concrete is super messy work.  All of us looked like this - concrete everywhere, with gloves that were covered in concrete, and globs in our hair.  I didn't even bother washing my pants.  I just took them off and threw them away.  



We are so relieved that this part is done.  Woo-Hoo!!

Next steps:

• seal the foundation
• finish the drainage [fill in the moat]
• rebuild the front deck so we can use the front door again
• take the old aluminum siding off the house
• start framing

We have much more experience framing, so the next parts will be much easier psychologically, if not physically.    If you'd like to volunteer to haul gravel for us, let me know.   Those moats are kinda big.  

Foundation

We're digging big holes so we can address some foundation issues.

'Issues' is another word for 'problems'.

Our foundation has big issues.

This means our foundation has big problems. 

Big.  Problems. 

Like no drainage.   So much moisture was being held in the clay soil around the foundation that after we dug out the foundation, the soil under the house started/continued leaching out.  

Moisture is a bad thing.

And don't you love these cracks?

Oh, wait.  Those aren't cracks.  That's where there's just no mortar between the blocks.

Oops. 

Then there's the footer.   The footer  should be 8-10 inches thick.  This footer is thick enough.

But it's not deep enough under ground.  It should be below the frost line.  Our frost line is 30 inches down.  

Oops.

Then there's this little beauty.    A footer that's only 4 inches thick.    Sitting at 4 inches below the soil.

The surprise on the other side of this area of the house was that there was no footer at all.

None.  

Which is why we're fixing things.  

Prepping for the Foundation Pour

Last fall we dug out the foundation and poured new footers. 

This spring we put in drainage.

We spent the summer putting forms up for the new foundation. 

These are PolySteel forms.  We got them years ago as leftovers from someone else's building project.    Follow the link for a full description of how terrific these are.

Eric spent a lot of time and worry getting these set just right so the foundation would be level all the way around and everything would be prepped for the sill plates to go right on so we can get things under roof before the new year.

Next step:   Pouring the foundation.

Pouring a New Footer

Earlier this month, on the last few warm days we had in a row, we finally poured our new footer.

You may recall that we've been digging.

And digging.

And digging.

And then digging some more.   

Footers are a lot of work. 

Once the digging was done, we had to put in the forms so the footer wouldn't fill up the whole hole.

If we were in a place where we actually had drainage, letting the footer fill the whole hole wouldn't be a problem.   But we don't have drainage.  

Southeast end forms

We have clay. 

Which means we have to install drainage.   And if we fill the whole hole with concrete, then we'd have to dig next to it - all the way down! - to put in drainage so that moisture wouldn't collect around the new footer and foundation and cause the same problems we're trying to fix now. 

And let me tell you, we're over the digging.   Over. It.  

West side forms

So,  Eric built forms in the holes to keep the concrete from filling the whole hole, leaving some space on the outside of the footer, so when it's all done, there will be just enough space to backfill with gravel [We love gravel.] and lay some super duper fabulous drainage tiles so that the moisture won't collect around the new footer and foundation and cause the same problems we're trying to fix now.  

Then we called the concrete guys and ordered 13 yards of concrete and George came and looked at the site to see if we could get the trucks close enough to the site to use their chutes.

There was good news and bad news.  

The good news was that we could get close enough in a couple of places.   

The bad news was that we couldn't get close enough in other places.    Which meant hauling concrete by the wheel barrow load to where we needed it. 

I don't know about you, but the idea of hauling six yards of concrete uphill in a wheel barrow just doesn't sound like my idea of fun.  In any universe.

Pulling the concrete down the chute with rakes

So Eric built a super duper concrete chute out of plywood and 2x4s.    And a super duper very tall sawhorse to support the chute as the concrete poured out of the truck's chute onto our chute, then down our chute to the hard-to-reach places in the holes.  

Then we crossed our fingers and prayed a lot that it would work because nobody,  No. Body., wanted to haul six yards of concrete uphill in a wheelbarrow.  

Not even the kids.   Weird, huh.

And guess what.   It totally worked!    The only concrete we had to haul with the wheelbarrow was the last tiny bit of the first load, which had been mixed thick especially for the steps in the footer where it changed levels.    Eric moved only 5 wheel barrow loads to the steps on the other side of the house, with Lily spotting and helping support so that the wheelbarrow and all didn't all pitch in the hole when they dumped.  

The rest was poured with the chute. 

We all helped.   Just so you know, one man, one woman and two teenaged girls can pour a footer if they communicate well and are willing to work hard and fast.   We hit a couple of tricky spots and both times, the driver of the truck [It took 2 loads of concrete to get it all done] hopped out and gave us a quick hand.  [I hope those guys have an extra special holiday!]

Mostly, it went like this:    We'd line up the truck chute with our chute.  When Eric gave the signal, I shouted to the driver to let it come.  Once the concrete hit our chute, K2 and I pulled it down the chute faster with rakes.  Lily and Eric raked it and smoothed it in the forms and let me know when to slow and stop.   I let the driver know when to slow or stop.    When one section was done, we moved the chute to the next section.   When we got to the lowest area, the truck could get up close and dump and that went a lot faster.    Once the east side was done, there was just enough left in the load to do the steps on the west side.  That truck cleaned up and took off.

Eric checks the level in the first section

We had an hour or so between loads.  Eric scrambled to get the rebar laid in the west hole and I scrambled to get the new concrete level before it stiffened up too much to move.    We had just finished when we heard the 2nd truck coming.  

We used mostly 4" slump (more on that in a later post) in the first hole and in the steps on the west side of the house.  Because we had already poured the steps on the west side with the thick stuff, it was pretty well set up by then and we could use 6 or 7" slump in the second load.    It poured a lot faster and set up a lot slower.   
Let me tell you this about working with concrete.   You think dirt is dirty?   It's nothing compared to concrete.   

Concrete is wet and dirty.    And it dries you up so that after a couple of hours you're starting to cough and get chapped.   But you can't stop working because that stuff starts to cure Right Now and you have to get it level Right Now if you want it level.

Smoothing with a 2x4

And we need it level.  So Eric leveled as we poured and then when we had to move the truck to a different area, it was my job to finish leveling, while Eric moved to the next section.

K2 and I worked together to do the leveling.  Luckily it only needed to be level, not beautiful.   

The bottom section of the east side was easy to level.    There were forms on both sides.  All I had to do was run a 2x4 across the top and make sure it was full, full, full.    Up the rest of the hole, there was a form only on one side.  This means there was nothing on one side to prop the board on to get a level.   Also, nothing to stand on, on that side.  

K2 checks the level.  I'm trying not to fall in.

To be honest, I was afraid I'd fall in head first.   The concrete was so stiff already on the east side that it wasn't a problem.   I laid big boards and plywood on the concrete and floated [rafted] backward as I smoothed.  The west side was wetter, but I had some experience by then.  Once I got in a groove, it worked well and in the end, it's all good and level.  It rained for the next 3 days and there is only one place that's about a 1/4 inch low on one side.  Nothing to fret over. 

It needed to stay above freezing for 7 days to cure right.   It was wet and well above freezing for the next 4 days, then when it got cold, we put some straw and plastic over the footer.   It's in the ground, which kept it warm-ish and the curing process releases some heat, so the blanketing was enough to keep it right for the rest of the 7 days.  

Footer done!   The first truck had arrived at 2pm.  The second left at 6:30pm.   It took a full hour and a half to clean up all the tools, wheel barrows, etc.  We were all done and in the house by 8pm.   Whew!

Foundation next.     Eric will build forms [no digging!] and get things so they'll attach to the bit of old but good foundation in the front.   There will be forms on both sides of the foundation [easy to level during the pour].   We already have the chute, but we might not need it.   There are no steps at the top of the foundation, so we can just pour it in one end and move it along to the other end.   With the four of us and a bit of experience under our belts, we should manage just fine.  It will be heavy work, but not back breaking.  

Now we need warm weather.   We don't want to risk goofy curing because of a serious cold snap, so if we have to wait a couple of months, no problem.    We want this foundation to last.  And last.

Foundation Progress

As you know, we're working on our foundation.  Last fall we were here.  Ginormous moats around the house.
















Then we poured the footer.   [That's K2 checking the level.  It looks like she's doubling up in agony, but she's not.] We learned a lot about concrete.

Then we had winter.  The Long Winter in which we got actual snow a lot of times and it like to never got warm again.

And the sides of the moats caved in some on top of the footers.   It was a pain.

But then it got warm and we dug the new collapsed dirt out and put some drainage in next to the new footer.  Because we're responsible home owners and we Never. Want. To do. This. Again. Ever.

Ever.

In this pic you can see the new dirt on the footer in the left of the hole. We lined the rest of the hole [the right side of the hole] next to the footer with geotextile to inhibit root growth around the drainage.

Roots are not your friend.   Unless you're gardening, but this, my friends, is not gardening.




Anyway.  Next we put a layer of gravel in the bottom of the hole and then laid drainage tile on that.

Since there was quite a change in elevation, we stepped the drainage down at the 'steps' with 45 degree joints.  We glued everything.  We checked and double checked the level to make sure everything was headed down toward the road.

Then we wrapped the pipe with more geotextile to keep the damned roots out and covered the whole mess with gravel up to the level of the top of the footer.

Pouring gravel into the space was interesting.  We could have just dumped in on the footer and raked it into the pit, but rakes put holes in the geotextile and we wanted No Holes.

So Eric grabbed a couple of pieces of thin plywood and we put those in the hole and could dump the gravel right in.  Most of the time someone stood behind the boards to steady them.

The boards guided the gravel right into the hole and all we had to do was smooth it out.  Worked brilliantly for both wheel barrow loads and fast shoveling from places we couldn't get the wheel barrow close enough. 

I am thrilled to report that the drainage around the new footer is done.  We've got some finessing around one end where it drains to the road, but we're ready to move on to the next stage in the process.

Next stage:  Building the forms for the actual foundation. 
Following Stage:  Pouring the new foundation.

Old Front Wall Down

Eric knocked the old front wall of the house down.  

The old living room addition on the front of the house was on the left. [Original house pic, below]  We built around that addition, put a room in the empty ell on the right and built the second floor over it.  




The new front of the house incorporated the old front of the house - the wall with the old chimney on it.  The foundation under that front was the only good foundation in the original house.   We kept it.

After Eric put in the new beams, he could tear out the old wall with the window and chimney.  He did.  It was a mess.   [Top pic]

The chimney went first.   It took 2 days of sorting and chipping off the old mortar to clean it up.   We saved all the unbroken bricks and chimney liner blocks we could.    Here's the stack.

We'll use them for paths or path edges later.

We spent a day taking apart as much of the old front wall as we could salvage. I kept the window sashes for cold frame covers.  We took the nails out of the good studs. [pic, right]  Yes, it was a pain in the rear.   A huge pain in the rear.   I assume we will be thankful some day.   That day is not today.



[Today is more a day of swearing than gratitude.]


Here's what's left of the old front room.   If you blow up the pic and look to the back of the room, you can see where the old roofline was where the front room addition attached to the old house.  



Next tasks:

• Tear out old floor and joists.
• Dig out new crawlspace.
• Gravel new crawlspace.
• Pour concrete to join new foundation with old foundation.
• Build new front wall.
• New inside floor joists and subfloor.

So that'll take a few weeks. 

Yoho Gets a Makeover

The heart and soul of downtown Solsberry, Indiana is Yoho's store.

It's been there forever.

The second story was the local Mason's meeting place.   You used to be able to see the symbol under the peak of the roof.

Mr. Yoho died last year and the place has been bought by Cook to be restored and reopened this fall as a little grocery just like it's been for decades.    [We hope they add an ice cream parlor!]

This is what it looks like this summer.

They had to rip out the ancient underground gas tanks.   Rumor has it that they're going to put some new tanks in.   That'd be fabulous!

We're impressed that they're doing a restoration rather than a knock down and let's start over from the ground up project.

The foundation had issues.

It was built on limestone blocks.   Big blocks.

Not exactly a continuous foundation.

The crew had to jack up the building and slide a bar under the sill plate to support things while they laid a cinder block foundation between the old foundation blocks.   Then they removed the old blocks.

They're taking their time.

It's so exciting!

Putting on a Good Front

Eric is currently sawing some joists off the back of the truck.   Works great!   Here's an update on what's happened in the house the last few weeks.

In the last post on the house I listed a few things we wanted to get done before it got cold.  Here's how we're doing.


1.   Tear out old floor and joists.

Done.  The decking went to the dump.   We recycled all the good 2x4s and joists that we could.   They're all on the front lawn now, nail free.  So pretty!  [Ack.  This is why Country Living has never come knocking at my door.]




2.   Dig out new crawlspace.

Done.   Not fun, but less not fun than the first time we did it in the former ell.   This time it was just me and Eric.  The dirt was nasty, hard, and difficult to get out but we didn't have to bucket it and lift it out just us girls.   Eric did a lot of picking first to break it up.  We could shovel it into a wheelbarrow and easily get it out.    In the end, like anything worth while, with patience and one shovel full at a time, we got it all dug and moved.


Notice the concrete pier cylinder in this pic, holding the lower beam between the two downstairs rooms. Working like a charm.

3.  Gravel new crawlspace.  

Done.   Dudes.  Sometimes I wonder at the sheer tonnage of gravel I have moved in this place all by myself, much less the combined tonnage that all of us have moved.   Again, Eric and I did this ourselves and I confess I wore out because we had done a lot of dirt digging first.   It ended up that I filled the wheel barrows, then Eric moved it and dumped it in the hole.   When I got too tired to fill, I went and raked and raked and raked to spread it around the hole.  Pepper and Tibby LOVED it in there.   

In this pic you are looking from the east side of the newly graveled ell through the old living room foundation and into the newly dug and graveled west crawlspace.   I can stand up on the east side and my head barely comes to the top of those joists.  On the west side I have to hunch quite a bit.   Eric assures me that this will be 'quite comfortable' once the subfloor is in and he's putting in the wiring, etc.    I will take his word for it because once the subfloor is on, I'm never going down there unless it's to save someone else's life.  

4.  Pour concrete to join new foundation with old foundation.

Eric did that on his own.  It took three pours around some tricky schedules and some rain.   Got it all done and it looks great.



5.  Build new front wall.

In progress as I write this.   You can see the east side is framed and ready to cover with plywood.  [Ed:  Got slowed down by the south facing window in the west room.   It takes time to frame it right.   Ran out of light, but we did get a few studs in place on the west side of the front wall.]

6.   New inside floor joists and subfloor.

Also in progress.  This is a pic of the joists in the east room.  The floor joists for both rooms will be in by the end of the day.  [Ed: Didn't make it.  Got all of the east room, some of the west.  Then it got dark.]   The subfloor is waiting to be picked up at Menard's and will be in place next weekend.

PROGRESS!!


Next up:

• Finish framing south [front] wall of house.
• Finish joists in west room.
• Subfloor on both floors.
• Exterior walls all closed up.
• Windows for these two rooms installed.  [They're ordered!]
• Insulation in the exterior walls
• Insulation boards to button up the spaces between the old house and the new house.

Here's a pic of the house-within-a-house that we currently have.   I assure you that as the remodel goes forward, the old house will be entirely dismantled and pitched through doors/windows until there is not one nail of the old house left.    [Though we're hoping that many of the old oak and poplar joists in the oldest part of the house will be nice enough to use as flooring in the hallway and living room.  Fingers crossed!]

Until we get there, we need to button up these spaces for the winter:

This is the east side.   Notice the temporary ductwork that shoots cool/warm air into the guestroom upstairs.   We're going to really insulate that well.













This is the west side.    You can see that Eric filled the top with insulation last year.  That's what's next to the temporary stairway going upstairs.   It worked fine last year.   This year we're going to button up the side space between the old wall and the new wall. We'll likely use insulation board all the way down.  Pretty easy to place and will seal it up nicely until we do that center part of the house above the basement.  

This end of the house is under the guest room and the big room upstairs; the floors have been mighty chilly this month. We're hoping that sealing it up and getting the windows in for some solar gain will warm the upstairs floors a bit.

I'll post more pics soon!

Cleaning out the Concrete Forms

Last fall we dug out the foundation and poured new footers. 

This spring we put in drainage.

We spent the summer putting forms up for the new foundation.  Nelly spent a lot of time napping all over them. 

Then we scheduled the pour and had to do the last minute clean up of leaves and debris that had gotten into the forms.

This is your average everyday type leaf blower/vac.    But is has a mega extension so it would fit all the way into the forms to clean out the bottoms.   It's a carpet tube that Eric picked up for FREE from Menard's before they recycled it.   Free.  

Free.

I heart Menard's.

Eric used the blow setting to get everything loose and in a pile in the bottom of the form, then he switched to the vac setting to suck it all out.   He went around twice to get as much out as possible.

Genius!   Worked brilliantly.   


Next up:   The foundation pour!   Where actual concrete is involved.

Concrete

A lot of folks think that concrete and cement are the same thing.   It's not and it's important to know the difference.  

We poured concrete for our footers.  Concrete is a mix of sand, gravel, cement and water - often with other additives.   Concrete contains  cement.

Cement doesn't contain concrete.

Now you know.

There are a lot of different recipes for concrete.  The Romans had some interesting ones.  From the wiki:

 "'Concrete additives have been used since Roman and Egyptian times, when it was discovered that adding volcanic ash to the mix allowed it to set under water. Similarly, the Romans knew that adding horse hair made concrete less liable to crack while it hardened and adding blood made it more frost-resistant. '

I kind of don't want to know how they figured out the blood thing.

Anyway.

When the truck comes to pour your concrete, they have a mix of the dry stuff in one tank and water in another tank.   They mix it after they get to you.    This way they can change the mix according to what the different parts of the pour need. 

We needed thick stuff for the steps in our footer.  We needed thinner stuff for the tops to move it from one place to another. They measure concrete thickness by 'slump'.   The wiki explains it in detail.

Basically, to test thickness, the concrete is packed into a cone.  The cone is turned upside down and taken off the concrete - sand castle style.    Then they measure how much the concrete slumps.   Thick stuff won't slump much.  Thinner stuff with more water in it slumps a lot.  In the US, they measure by inches.  

The lower the number, the thicker the concrete.  Thicker concrete is stronger, but it's hard to finish smoothly.   Thicker concrete is also hard to move along.   If you need to move it along, you need thinner concrete.

We used 4" slump in our steps and 6-7" slump for the rest.

Here are a few things we learned:

1.  For changes in elevation/level in your pour use 4" slump.

2.  For concrete you need to move along the form to get to the other side, use 6-7" slump.  

3.  If you build a plywood chute to move concrete in, get it wet before you start.   Dry plywood really holds the concrete in place.   Once the chute is wet, the concrete moves nicely along.

4.  Garden rakes are great tools for working with concrete.   Narrow rakes are better.   For the foundation we might need to use hoes because the foundation will only be 8" wide.

5.  2x4s are your friends.   We used them to smooth and level and to put our feet on when we were poised over the wet concrete.

6.  Wear gloves and clothes you don't mind getting really really dirty.  A lot of it will wash up, but some might not. 

7.  A good attitude and good communication skills make the job a lot easier.  Seriously - this is the most important thing you can bring to any construction job. 

Digging Out

I've been neglecting the blog this fall.   I've missed you!

We've been working on some pretty intensive house projects over the past few weeks and now that we've got a handle on that, I'll get some of these pics up for you to see. 

While Eric was doing the decon-reconstruction so we could put on a second floor, the girls and I had the very glamorous job of digging out the ell and picking up the roof trash and putting it in the dumpster.

This pic is of the ell, newly dug out.   That's the basement wall on the right. The phone line comes up on it.  You can see the dirt line and how far we had to dig down.   By hand.  Into buckets.  Which we had to haul up and over the new foundation to dump. 

It took us 3 days.   I dug and put the dirt in a bucket, Lily moved the bucket to the top of the foundation and Claire dumped.   We had a 3 bucket system and things moved pretty smoothly.   Now there is a very nice crawl space area under that part of the house.  

Stairs

This is Eric in his natural habitat.    And he smiled for the camera, so woo-hoo!

Please note that he is in Claire's closet in front of the wall that used to be the door that we got in and out of the upstairs through.

Note that it is a wall now.     That is signficant.

But first a little back story.

This is the back of the house.   That short addition used to be a porch, later enclosed, but not actually put on a foundation. It is slated for demolition, which will be a very happy day. [We'll put on a similar addition, only a bit bigger and it will actually have a foundation under it.   The new kitchen and pantry and mudroom will be in there eventually.]

At the peak of the roof you can see the Typar 'door' where we've been getting in and out of the upstairs addition for the last year.

We've been climbing up this ladder to the roof over the back room and then up to the peak, then in and out of the wall inside Claire's closet.

I know, right?     So.     Elegant.

Seriously.    Call the Country Living people because they'll surely want to know all about us.   [Is it possible to get one's eyes stuck in the back of one's head by rolling them too hard?]

Mostly I just pretended that it was perfectly normal and that everyone goes upstairs via the great outdoors, a ladder, and a closet wall.

You know.   For a year.

But all good things must come to an end and our ladder climbing days are over for now.

Yee-HAW!

We Have an INSIDE Stairway.

This is a temporary arrangement for now that will allow us to finish the upstairs and live up there as needed until we can finish the re-do of the downstairs, which will be a total remodel down to the last nail.    The final stairs will be in this general area but that's it.  The final design is very different.

 

As you can see, it is very steep [I come down backward like a ladder] but it is plenty wide enough to get furniture up and down on.

Which is important because the girls rooms are just about done and there is mega furniture moving in the near future!  Yay!

Also, it's just about winter.  Which brings up the question of how to winterize a partially finished upstairs with some interesting structural irregularities between floors.    I'll get to that in a post next week.   Stay tuned.